Vezelay Abbey

The Basilica of Santa Magdalena de Vezelay as well as the village of Vezelay was named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The village has a population of 600 inhabitants. Vézelay was the meeting point for pilgrims from Northern and Eastern Europe heading for Santiago de Compostela via Lemovicense, one of the four pilgrimage routes running through France. The basilica has been known throughout Europe since the eleventh century because it was said to contain the relics of St. Magdalena. It was also where the second crusade undertaken by St. Bernard of Clairvaux in the twelfth century, started. Later Richard the Lionheart and Philippe Auguste, King of France, set out on the Third Crusade from here.